Sunday, March 10 2002

Good morning and welcome to Day 2 of the 9th Annual Spring Training Trek 2002!

It's day two of the 2002 Spring Training Trek - A New Beginning.  It was a 3 beer night last night, and I am a one beer kind of guy, but more on that later.  It is a gorgeous day today at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex, highs near 80 and only a few puffs of cloud in the sky.  A beautiful day for baseball, marred only by the appearance of those dreaded New York Mets.

We are once again a few innings late, but the extra sleep this morning was greatly appreciated (and needed).  It is the bottom of the 3rd and the Mets are already up on the Braves, having scored 5 runs in the 3rd inning to the Braves one in the 2nd.  Eddie Perez leads off the bottom of the 3rd with a single.  Jason Marquis gets a hit moving Perez to 2nd.  DeRosa singles to load the bases with no outs.  Andruw hits into a line drive double play at 3rd, and then Chipper draws a walk to again load the bases.  Gary Sheffield drops one a few feet from the mound, an easy throw to first and the Mets are out of the inning.

Chris Hammond takes over on the mound for Marquis.  A fly ball to center right, Sheffield gives way to Andruw who makes a running, diving non catch.  Some fans criticize the new right fielder for not being more aggressive and deferring to the younger phenom.  The runner advances on a wild pitch, and a fly out to center, but the throw in holds the runner.  A single to center scores the run, giving the Mets a 6-1 lead. A single to right scores another, runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out.  A ground ball to 3rd for the force, throw to 1st for the double play, although NY fans claim loudly that Surhoff was pulled off the bag.

Now you know: The letters TIP spells To Insure Promptness.

Wes Helms leads off the bottom of the the bottom of the 4th by fly out out to deep center.  Lockhart guides one into right.  Surhoff singles to right.  Eddie Perez drops one into right to score Keith.  Charles Thomas pinch hits and flies to right; runners hold with 2 outs.  DeRosa strikes out, stranding two but getting one run back.

Adam Stern takes over at Center in the top of the 5th, and makes a play for the first out.  A fly ball to right is followed by a 2 out walk.  A ground to short, and the throw handcuffs Surhoff a bit, but the inning is over.   Stern strikes out to start the bottom of the inning.  Chipper lines down the 3rd base line for a double.  Hammond grounds to 2nd, moving Chipper to 3rd.  Chipper scores on Helm's RBI hit.  A fly out to left ends the inning.

In the top of the 6th, Hammond gets a fly out to left.  Another hit to left drops in front of Chipper, putting runners at 1st and 2nd.  Chipper earns some jeers for not charging the ball.  A dribble down the left field line; Hammond fields and throws to Helms at 3rd for the force out.  A single to center loads the bases.  A single to left scores 1; a strong throw by Chipper to Perez tags the runner just in the nick of time to save the run.  A fly ball to deep center and the inning is finally over.  But the Mets add to their lead, 7-3.  Surhoff starts the bottom of the 6th with a solid drive into center.  Perez grounds out, Charles Thomas hits into a double play to end the inning.

Top of the 7th finds Taveras behind the plate, and Matt Franco at 1st. Jake Robbins takes over on the mound.  Franco fields a ground ball, throws to Robbins covering 1st for the first out.  A fly to left is the 2nd out.  Former Brave Tony Tarasco grounds to short to end the inning. DeRosa leads off the bottom of the 7th flying out to right.  Stern flies to center right, and Chipper hits one to short, bounces off the glove and he is safe at first with a hit.  Franco drives a fair ball down the left field line for a double, Chipper stops at 3rd.  Wes Helms flies out to center to end the inning, killing yet another scoring opportunity.

Bill McCarthy takes over in left field, Dan Wheeler pitches.  Wheeler gets a fly out to center left.  A double down the left field line puts the Mets in scoring position again.  A single drives the run in. Another hit to right puts runners at 1st and 2nd.  A fly ball drops into right, putting runners at 1st and 2nd.  The ball gets away from Wheeler and runners advance as Taveras scrambles to recover.  A liner to 2nd, throw to 1st, and Wheeler gets out of the inning.  But the Braves are running out of time.

Keith Lockhart leads off the bottom of the 8th driving the ball to the edge of the warning track where it is caught for an out.  Taveras drops one into center.  McCarthy flies out to center.  Thomas flies to center and the inning is over.

A pair of singles and a pair of walks starts brings in a run in the top of the 9th.  A single to left scores one more, and the 9th inning sees the Braves sinking further into a game they were barely alive in to begin with.  Kerry Ligtenberg is trying to hold the tide, but a single to left scores two with the runner safe at 3rd.  Ligtenberg then loads the bases with a walk, but gets a fly to left to end the inning.

This one has been all Mets as they are 3 outs away from their worst beating this Spring.  DeRosa grounds to 2nd, Stern breaks his bat but pops up to shallow center.  Jesse Garcia pinch hits as the Braves last desperate hope, but flies out to center to end the game.

The Mets scored 12 runs on 19 hits with no errors.  The Braves had 3 runs, 13 hits with no errors.  And that's it from the ballpark.

After browsing the D-Sports store and scoring a few pins, I made my way back to Disney's MGM Studios and the Sorcerer's Hat from Fantasia celebrating 100 Years of Magic.  I picked up 4 Magical Moments pins (large plastic pins, one for each theme park) which light up as you walk past various attractions and during parades.  With an internet coupon, I also received 4 free pins to go with.  Next I made dinner reservations for Friday and headed over to Epcot.

I took the Friendship VIII boat, which turned out to be a mistake because there was apparently congestion on the waters which turned a 25 minute trip into a 3 hour tour.  Still, I made it to Epcot's tribute to the imagination where Kodak allowed me to send the photo you all should have received.  Next I made my way to Morocco where I was able to view the Tapestry of Dreams parade as it entered the World Showcase.  This parade was adapted from the Tapestry of Nations parade, consisting of beating drums and towering steel and fabric characters as recordings of children's dreams collected during the day are blended into the music.

Next it was to Restaurant Marrakesh for dinner, where I had a Marrakesh Feast fit for a king.  Stuffed as I was, I wandered through Japan and the United States to Italy for my priority viewing area for Illuminations - Reflections of Earth.  This powerful (if not explosive) fire, water, laser and music extravaganza is the highlight of Epcot as the story of the earth's formation and the growth of the human race is celebrated in unity.

For those of you who have followed my Spring Training Treks before, you know that mere mortals might be exhausted after such a day, and I claim to be no more than that.  But for you the reader I soldiered on, walking to Disney's Boardwalk and into JellyRolls, a dueling piano sing-along bar where I drank a beer and sung along for an hour.  There was a large group on convention from Kinkos, and magically (that happens a lot around here), many of them were celebrating birthdays.

The price of celebrating a birthday was being called on stage and being embarrassed by singing I'm A Little Tea Pot or the Hokey Pokey.  One poor soul was purported to be a US Senator (I would not have voted for him - he was drinking Canadian beer), and other was escorted out of the club after requesting Brittany Spears.

I was having such a good time, I ordered a second beer and hung around for another hour.  The piano players changed at the top of the hour and the first group was now back, continuing their repartee and singing everything from Elton John to Barry Manilow.  The bar was now packed and everyone was having a good time.  So good that when time came to go home, I ordered another beer and hung around for a 3rd hour.

I new the day would have to come to an end because the resort buses stop running at 1:30am, but the real evening killer was the 2nd Garth Brooks song.  So I picked my picked self up and walked to the bus stop, where Disney Transportation escorted me back safe and sound to my Cabanas room at the Coronado Springs resort.

And thus ends Day Two, a bad day a the ballpark, a good evening at the theme park, and a great night at JellyRolls.  Can you even wait to see how Day 3 turns out?

Fuskie